


The Only Things That Spread Faster Than Wildfire Are Rumors

by HighlyOpinionatedNerd



Category: Gintama
Genre: (if you squint), Hope you like it!, Pre-Relationship, as in-character as I could possibly make it, they just fluster so easily! I couldn't resist, this is just 5500 words of me torturing my faves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-08-10 01:36:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20127217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyOpinionatedNerd/pseuds/HighlyOpinionatedNerd
Summary: Gintoki and Hijikata suddenly find themselves the unwitting subjects of a vicious and persistent rumor.





	The Only Things That Spread Faster Than Wildfire Are Rumors

Kagura was woken up, as usual, by the sound of Sadaharu whining and scratching at her door, anxious for his breakfast. So she got up and stumbled to the kitchen, still half asleep, to fill his bowl.

Once he was happily chowing down on his typical mountain of dog food, she turned her attention to the fridge to see about getting started on her own meal.

“Hey,” she said, squinting blearily at the empty shelves in front of her, “what’s this…? Out of food? Gin-chan! Didn’t you say you were going to go shopping yesterday? Where’s my breakfast?”

There was no reply from down the hall. Kagura growled in a half-asleep, hungry kind of way and closed the fridge.

“Gin-chan,” she said louder, stomping her way towards his bedroom. “Wake up! There’s no food!”

She wrenched open the door, fully prepared to give him a piece of her mind, but stopped short at what she saw inside the room.

Gintoki was there, sprawled all over the place and sleeping like the dead. That wasn’t unusual. What _was_ unusual was that Hijikata was there too. Kagura blinked and rubbed her eyes, but when she opened them again he was still there, sitting up and frowning at her through a mess of hair in his face.

“What time is it?” he asked, his voice coming out rough and raspy.

“Uh...I don’t know, eight thirty-ish?”

“Eight thirty! Shit…” Hijikata scrambled up, hurriedly tossing off the blanket he was under.

“What are you doing here?” Kagura said, eyeing him suspiciously.

“Long story. No time to explain, I’m late for work.”

Gintoki mumbled something unintelligible and pulled his own blanket up over his head.

“I’m really sorry about this, Yorozuya, I promise I’ll make it up to- where are my boots?”

“Here.”

“Oh, good, thank you. Look, I’ll come by later, ok? Right now I really have to get going. Sorry, really, sorry.”

Kagura stood aside and watched as Hijikata rushed past her and out of sight. A moment later, she heard the front door close.

“Gin-chan, you’ve got a lot of explaining to do,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “Come on, get up already!”

“Go away,” he said, his voice faint and muffled under the blanket.

“No! Get up and go get me some food, like you said you were going to do yesterday, you deadbeat!”

“Stop yelling at me! I have a hangover!”

Kagura sighed and shook her head. “Why was Toshi here, Gin-chan?”

“...You mean Hijikata? Ohhh, that’s right, I ran into him at the bar last night...guess we ended up staying out longer than we meant to…”

“Is that why you didn’t go shopping?! Because you were hanging out at a bar with _Toshi_?!”

“Stop yelling, I said!”

“I’m hungry!”

“Al_right_ already, jeez. Here...look Kagura, here’s some money. Go out and get some breakfast food, will you? I swear I’ll go out and get the rest later.”

“Gin-chaaaaaannn…”

“Look, I’ll give you extra for some snacks, or whatever you want. Please, Kagura, I feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Ugh, fine.” Kagura stooped down and snatched the money from Gintoki’s outstretched hand. “But you owe me big for this, Gin-chan!”

“Uh-huh,” Gintoki said weakly, crawling back under the covers.

“Tsk. Don’t stay in bed too long. I’ll be back soon with some bacon and eggs.”

Kagura stormed back through the apartment, grumbling under her breath the whole way.

“Come on, Sadaharu,” she said, after putting on some fresh clothes and dragging a brush through her hair a few times. “Let’s go to the store, I guess.”

Gintoki laid in bed for a while longer, until the nausea had subsided to manageable levels. It was the sun that finally drove him out from under the blankets- he took refuge from the bright midmorning light in the bathroom, splashing water on his face until he felt semi-human again.

Then he shuffled out into the kitchen, but it wasn’t until he’d already opened the cabinet that he remembered they were out of food. So he went to the living room and laid down on one of the couches with an arm over his face to wait until Kagura got back.

He’d only been there for a few moments, however, when the doorbell rang.

Gintoki groaned inwardly. Kagura wouldn’t have rung the bell, which meant that it was likely a customer, and he wasn’t sure he could handle dealing with a customer right now.

“Come in,” he called anyway, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, thinking he might as well give it his best shot.

“Hey hey,” said a familiar voice as the door swung open, “how you feeling?”

Gintoki groaned out loud this time. “What are you doing here, Hattori?”

“What, I can’t just drop by to say hi?”

“No. If you don’t have a good reason to be here then go home. I’ve got a hangover.”

“Yeah, I heard you had a pretty wild night last night!”

Gintoki narrowed his eyes. “Heard from who?”

“Sarutobi. Did you really think she wouldn’t find out? She’s pretty upset, man.”

“About what, that I went out drinking last night?”

“No, about Hijikata.”

“...That I went drinking and Hijikata was there?”

“No! She was on her way over here this morning to bug you, or spy on you, or whatever the hell she does in her free time, and she saw him leaving. One arm in his jacket and one shoe still in his hand, to hear her tell it. Hard to tell through all the crying.”

“She was crying?”

“Well, it’s Sarutobi, what do you expect. I told her she should have expected something like this to happen sooner or later. Can’t say I could have predicted that it would be Hijikata, but hey! Who am I to judge.”

Gintoki blinked, his foggy brain slowly starting to catch up with what he was hearing. “Hang on…”

“And I’m not here to tell you what to do- god forbid, right?- but you should probably say something to her. Otherwise she’s bound to do something stupid. That is, if you’re really serious about-”

“Whoooooaaaaa there, whoa, whoa!” Gintoki would have jumped to his feet, if he could have done that without immediately throwing up on the carpet. Instead he settled for waving his arms around frantically. “You had better not be implying what I think you’re implying here.”

“What?” Most of Hattori’s face was hidden behind his hair as usual, but Gintoki could hear the amusement in his voice, and he could picture the playfully raised eyebrows with ease. “You mean to tell me you slept with the Shinigami vice-captain and it’s _not_ serious? Damn, that’s pretty ballsy!”

“No, no, nonono. No way. I definitely did not sleep with him,” Gintoki said, panicky-fast. “You’ve got the wrong idea. He spent the night here, but we _definitely_ did not sleep together.”

“You didn’t?”

“No! Why would I sleep w-with...with _him_?”

“Cause you were drunk and he was there?”

“What the hell kind of person do you take me for!? I would never do that!”

“Mm-hmm.” Hattori did not sound very convinced. “Sure, I get it. If you’re not ready to tell people, that’s fine. I won’t tell anyone. And I’ll try to keep an eye on Sarutobi, but I can’t make any promises about her.”

“You’re not listening to me.”

“Don’t worry, dude. I already told you, I won’t judge. Alright, well, if that’s that on that, I should probably go. Got a distraught shinobi to take care of, and all that. I still think you should talk to her yourself, though. When you’re ready. Well, till then, see you, I guess.”

Hattori saluted with a finger to his temple, and then he was gone, leaving Gintoki feeling just as bad- if not worse- than he had before.

It probably would not have taken Hijikata very long to run to the Shinsengumi headquarters from the Yorozuya apartment...but in his condition, he could barely even walk straight. His head throbbed with every step. 

Hijikata didn’t think he’d ever screwed up like this before. How could he face his men- the ones he had spent so many long hours preaching to about respectability and devotion to duty- after this? He wanted to lay down on the street and sink down into the dust, never to be seen by anyone ever again.

But he had a job to do, and he couldn’t afford to slack off any more than he already had. So he forced himself to keep walking, mentally steeling himself for whatever was waiting for him.

He did not look at anyone or anything as he entered the base, keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead and his fists balled at his sides. But he could still feel everyone staring at him. To be fair, they were probably staring with a mixture of confusion and concern, but in his brain it registered as contempt and disdain, and it just made him feel all the worse.

Outside Kondo’s office, he paused and took a long, deep breath. Then he pushed open the door and walked in.

Kondo was there, sitting behind his desk, which was a complete mess as usual. Okita was there too, leaning up against the corner of the desk, with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Both of them looked up as he came in.

“Toshi!” Kondo said, looking relieved. “Thank goodness you’re ok. I thought we were going to have to send out a patrol looking for you!”

“Sorry, Kondo-san.”

“Where have you been?” Okita demanded. “You know how busy things get this time of year! We really needed you here this morning!”

“I’m _sorry_, Sougo. I know I should have been here. I know I fucked up, and I’m _sorry_.”

“Why don’t you sit down, Toshi,” Kondo said knowingly, opening one of his desk drawers and digging around inside it. “You look like you could use an aspirin.”

“Yeah, I guess I could.” Hijikata sank into a chair, rubbing his eyes.

Okita sighed, shaking his head. “You should know better than to get wasted the night before an early morning, Hijikata-san.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. How many more times do you want me to apologize?”

“Here, Toshi, take this.”

“Thank you, Kondo-san.”

“And Sougo, don’t be so hard on him. These things happen. We’ve all had our share of nights spent sleeping in the back alleys and the gutters.”

“Please don’t lump me in with you, Kondo-san.”

“I didn’t mean to drink so much,” Hijikata muttered miserably. “But I ran into the Yorozuya guy at the bar and...we ended up talking for a while, and he kept ordering more drinks...”

Okita made a strangled noise in the back of his throat, like he was trying not to laugh. “You got wasted with _Danna_? Wow, Hijikata-san. Wow.”

“Hey, shut up!”

“You should probably take the rest of the morning off,” Kondo said. “Go home and take a nice hot shower, sleep off the rest of that hangover.”

“I’m ok, Kondo-san, I can work.”

“No, no, I insist! I don’t want to be the kind of captain who forces his men to work when they should really be in bed instead. I know what a night of sleeping rough can do to you, and I don’t want you to be on your feet all day making it worse.”

“Really, I’m fine. I stayed the night at the Yorozuyas’. I can work, I can work.”

“You stayed the night _where_?”

“Sougo, what the hell is your problem! Shut up!”

“No, no, I’m gonna need to hear more about how you got drunk with a known war criminal and then _let him take you home_!”

Hijikata’s jaw fell open. “Wh- wha- it….It wasn’t like _that_!”

“Oh really? Cause that’s sure what it sounds like, Hijikata-san!”

“Sougo, I swear to god-”

“It does kind of sound like that, Toshi” Kondo admitted.

“It’s not! It’s not!”

“Alright, alright! But, let me just say, if...you know, if it actually were like that, you shouldn’t be embarrassed about it! You know you can tell us anything, right? You know it’s safe for you to tell us anything, right?”

“Speak for yourself.”

“Sougo! Be supportive!”

“Both of you, please, just stop!” Hijikata exhaled sharply, digging his fingers into his eyelids again. “For the last time, it wasn’t like that. I was too drunk to make it home safely by myself, so he took me to his place and I spent the night on his floor. That’s all, I swear.”

“On the _floor_?”

“On a spare futon, Kondo-san, jeez!”

Okita was no longer making any attempt to hide his laughter. He was doubled over and practically cackling with glee. “Stop, stop, Hijikata-san...you’re just making it worse…”

“So, that’s why I was late,” Hijikata said, doing his best to ignore him. “I didn’t wake up until Kagura woke me up, and then I came straight here.”

“China Girl saw you with him? Oooh, that must have been awkward!”

“Sougo, please. Toshi, I still don’t think you should be here. I think you should go home and rest.”

“No, Kondo-san, really. We can’t afford to get behind. I’ll work.”

“Well, alright, but I want you to stay here. No patrolling. Ok?”

“Ok. I’ll get started on the monthly reports, then.”

“Ok, fine. Take care of yourself, drink water and all that. Sougo, I’m sure you have work to be doing too. Go on, now.”

“Alright, alright, I’m going.”

Okita finally uncrossed his arms and pushed himself off the desk to follow Hijikata out the door.

“You know, Hijikata-san,” he said, “when you didn’t show up we were actually really worried about you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, of course. So, do us a favor, alright? Next time you spend the night in Danna’s bed, set an alarm on your phone beforehand!”

Okita laughed, nimbly dodging away from the fist Hijikata swung at him, and headed off down the hallway, leaving Hijikata standing there alone.

“Kagura, Gin-san, I’m back,” Shinpachi called, stepping out of his shoes and nudging the apartment door closed behind him with his foot. Sadaharu waited expectantly at the end of the entrance hall to lick his fingers in welcome, just as he always did.

“Welcome back, Shinpachi.”

“Kagura-chan? Where are you?”

“At the table.”

Shinpachi made his way to the kitchen, from which he could see both Kagura and Gintoki seated at the dining table.

“You want some bacon and eggs, Shinpachi?”

“Uh, isn’t it a little late for breakfast?”

“Yeah, but because of _someone_, we didn’t get to eat until now,” Kagura said, glaring daggers across the table at Gintoki.

“I already said I was sorry. What else do you want from me?”

“To finish the shopping!”

“I will, I will. Let me eat.”

“Well, maybe this will cheer you up, Kagura-chan,” Shinpachi said, setting down the box he was carrying on the table.

“What is it?”

“Leftover doughnuts, from my sister’s work. She told me to bring them here so she wouldn’t eat the rest of them herself.”

Kagura gasped in delight. “Oh man, that’s great! Remind me to thank her next time I see her.”

“Alright, I will.” Shinpachi glanced out the kitchen window. “Hey, I wanted to get some washing done a little early today, if that’s ok with you guys. There’s a pretty good chance of rain this evening.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I think all my stuff is already in the hamper. Thanks.”

“Mine too. Oh, but the sheets on the spare futon need changing.”

“Huh? They do? Was someone here?”

“Hijikata spent the night.”

“_Huh_?”

“Listen, ok. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Because you were both too drunk to see straight!”

“Really, Gin-san? Really?”

“I’m sorry! It won’t happen again, ok? Leave me alone, I feel bad enough already.”

“No! I seriously can’t believe you skipped grocery shopping to get drunk with Toshi! Unforgivable!”

Shinpachi sighed. “I’ll go get started on the wash.”

He walked away from the table, leaving Kagura and Gintoki to their bickering. Sure enough, in Gintoki’s bedroom, he found the spare futon on the floor instead of in the closet where it was usually kept. The blanket was haphazardly askew, seeming to indicate that Hijikata had left in something of a hurry.

“Jeez,” Shinpachi grumbled to himself, stooping down to grab the blanket so he could fold it back up properly. “Gin-san I’d expect this from, but Hijikata?...I wish they’d have a little more self-control...talk about setting a good example...hey, what’s this?”

As he gathered the blanket up, something fell out of it and onto the floor. Shinpachi bent down for a closer look and found a slightly squashed pack of cigarettes.

He sighed again.

After he’d finished with folding the blanket, taken the sheets off the spare futon, and thrown all the laundry in the hamper into the washer, he brought the cigarettes back out to the kitchen.

“Gin-san, Hijikata-san must have left these here.”

Kagura snorted. “Wonder how he managed that, leaving without his precious cigarettes.”

“Must have fallen out of his jacket pocket,” Gintoki said.

“Fallen out of his pocket, huh.” Shinpachi raised an eyebrow. “Gin-san...how do I put this...is there, uh, something you’re not telling us? About why Hijikata-san was here last night?”

Gintoki nearly choked on his breakfast. “N-no,” he coughed out, reaching for his glass of water. “No, no way.”

“We’re not completely oblivious, you know,” Kagura said flatly. “We can put two and two together.”

“Oh, god, not you guys too...Listen, really, you’ve got to believe me when I say it’s not like that. I just brought him here so he wouldn’t have to go all the way to his place, and once we got here we passed out, and that’s all there is to it. I swear.”

“Why were you even drinking with him in the first place, then, huh? Why would the two of you go out like that if you weren’t actually, like, y’know, going _out_?”

“Kagura, I already told you, I just happened to run into him by coincidence.”

“And then spend the whole night with him.”

“Hey, it beats drinking alone!” Gintoki put his face in his hands and shook his head wearily. “Please, just...take my word for it. There’s nothing going on between Hijikata and I. If there were- there’s not, but if there were- I would tell you.”

“So it was a one night stand, then.”

“No! Who taught you that?! Where did you hear that?!”

“Well, regardless of anything,” Shinpachi interrupted loudly, “we should probably get these cigarettes back to Hijikata-san.”

“He said he was going to drop by later,” Kagura said. “Why not wait til then?”

“Wait, he said that? When did he say that?”

“Before he left.”

“But why would he come back here…?”

“Probably to talk to you, Gin-san! Why else?”

“Yeah, _clearly_ the two of you need to have a long heart-to-heart about your relationship.”

“Kagura…”

“I’m going to go by the Shinsengumi’s place on my way home later today. I’ll just drop them off then. I’m sure he’s missing them.”

“You’re not staying today?”

“No, I can’t, I promised our neighbor I’d look after her cat, so.”

“Look at you, being all responsible. Delivering stuff and cat sitting. Gin-chan, you could stand to learn a thing here.”

“I’ll get you your goddamn groceries! Get off my back!”

Gintoki stomped out into the living room, muttering incoherently.

“You don’t really believe him when he says there’s nothing going on between him and Hijikata-san, do you?” Shinpachi whispered behind his hand to Kagura.

“Not for a second,” Kagura whispered back.

“If he does come by later, you’ll tell me everything they say, right?”

“Oh, you bet. Every word.”

“Hijikata-san,” Yamazaki said, sticking his head into Hijikata’s office, “I’ve got your-”

“Yamazaki, if it’s not the arrest files I asked for _two hours ago_, then I don’t want to hear about it!”

Hijikata was in a bit of a bad mood. But he felt he had earned that. He had a fresh headache, this one brought on by hours of increasingly tedious paperwork. Yelling at Yamazaki wasn’t really going to help him with it, he realized, but it certainly made him feel a little better, at least momentarily.

“O-oh. Alright, then, I guess I’ll just-”

“Where do you think you’re going!”

“What?”

“I didn’t say you could leave yet. Get in here. Take these to Kondo-san.” 

“Oh. Ok.”

Yamazaki walked into the room and picked up the stack of papers Hijikata had indicated.

“Wait a moment, Hijikata-san. Aren’t these supposed to go to Matsuraida-san?”

Hijikata looked up, frowning. “Yes,” he said after a moment, “Matsuraida-san. That’s what I meant. Sorry.”

“Maybe you should take a little break? You seem tired.”

“I’m fine. I want to get this over with as fast as possible.” Hijikata sighed. “Jeez, I could really use a smoke,” he muttered to himself, wearily raising his pen to the latest sheet of paper to cross his deck. “Of all days to misplace my cigarettes…”

“I have them.”

“...You what?”

“I have your cigarettes,” Yamazaki said. “Do you want them?”

“Do I...yes, you dumbass! Give them here! Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“I tried! You said you didn’t want to hear it!”

Yamazaki set the papers back on the desk, freeing his hands to take the pack of cigarettes from his pocket and hand it to Hijikata.

“_Thank_ you,” Hijikata said, immediately pulling out one of the cigarettes and putting it in his mouth. He opened one of his desk drawers and reached inside, searching for a lighter. “Where did you find them?”

“Shinpachi-kun brought them by.”

Hijikata inhaled too sharply and choked on his first breath of smoke. “Sh-Shinpachi?” he coughed.

“Yes, Shinpachi-kun. I guess you left them at Gintoki-san’s place by accident, so he dropped them off here for you.”

“Hang on,” Hijikata said, once he had stopped coughing. “How did you know that I stayed the night there?”

“Everyone’s talking about it, to tell you the truth. And you know,” Yamazaki said, picking the stack of paperwork up again, “I’m really happy for you, Hijikata-san! Gintoki-san is a nice guy, and I’m sure you’ll be happy together.”

“Yamazaki, stop!”

“Why? I’m just trying to-”

“I am _not_ dating Sakata Gintoki!”

“...You’re not?”

“No, I most certainly am not! Is Sougo the one telling people that?”

“I don’t know!” Yamazaki said, wide-eyed in the face of Hijikata’s anger. “Like I said, everyone is talking about it!”

“You tell ‘everyone’,”Hijikata snarled, “that the next person to let that slander cross his lips will be serving me his own head on a platter before sunrise! Am I clear?”

“Eeek! Y-yes, sir, c-crystal clear!”

Yamazaki scurried back out of the office as fast as he could. Hijikata put his face in his hands and fought the urge to scream.

He had a feeling that, no matter how much he denied it, the rumor about him and Gintoki wasn’t going to just disappear. Which meant that at the end of the day, he was going to have to explain it to the man who had done him a favor by taking him in for the night.

Great.

Gintoki hated grocery shopping, even on good days. There was never enough money for him to just grab what he wanted and go; he had to keep careful track of what was in his basket, adding together every last cent. Often he was left having to decide which item or items needed to be put back so that he’d be able to pay for everything. That kind of thing drained him, in every sense of the word, which was probably why he was able to talk himself out of doing it so easily.

But this time he had put it off for too long, and he had been paying the price for it all day. Eventually Kagura’s non-stop berating had won out over his dread of having to go shopping, and he’d gotten up to actually do it.

He was almost done, almost ready to leave with his bags and go home, when he heard someone call his name.

“Gin-san?”

He turned around to see Otae approaching, followed by Kyuubei, who was pushing a loaded cart.

“I thought that was you! Good to see you, Gin-san.”

“Good afternoon, Gintoki. How have you been?”

“Hey, Otae, Kyuubei. What are you two doing here?”

“Shopping. Obviously.”

“We’re having a girl’s night in tonight, with a couple of friends,” Otae explained. “So we’re on a snack run.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Yeah, I think it’ll be great fun. How about you, what are you up to?”

“Just, y’know. Routine grocery run.”

“Are you ok?” Kyuubei asked, peering closely at Gintoki’s face. “You don’t really seem yourself.”

“I’m just worn out,” Gintoki admitted. “I woke up with a killer hangover and have not completely recovered yet. I’ll be fine after some good sleep, though, don’t worry.”

“Oh, yes, we heard that you had a rather _exciting_ night last night!” Otae said, and Kyuubei nodded.

Gintoki narrowed his eyes. “...Heard from who, exactly?”

“Shin-chan, of course! Now, he seemed a little bit iffy about the whole situation, but don’t you worry, I’m sure he just needs a little time to get used to it.”

“What whole situation?”

“You and Hijikata-san!”

Gintoki squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to take a deep breath. This was exactly what he’d been afraid of.

“You guys, we’re not-”

“Frankly, I think it’s about time,” Otae interrupted. “The two of you have always gotten along so well, after all. I figured it was only a matter of time before you got together.”

“What?! No, no, we don’t-”

“Really, Tae-chan? It caught me completely by surprise! I must say, Gintoki, I never thought you’d go for someone like Hijikata. But good for you, for giving it a try anyway! I’m rooting for you guys!”

Otae gasped. “Kyuu-chan, I know what we should do! We should bake them a celebratory cake!”

“No, please don’t…”

“That’s a good idea, Tae-chan! Gintoki, what kind of cake do you like?”

They both looked at him expectantly. For a moment, Gintoki just stared blankly back at them, desperately trying to think of something he could say to persuade them that he and Hijikata weren’t actually together.

In the end, he couldn’t come up with anything.

“...Chocolate.”

“Alright, chocolate it is! Ooh, we can even get the ingredients while we’re here! Come on, Kyuu-chan, let’s go. Bye, Gin-san! Say hello to Kagura-chan and Hijikata-san for us!”

“Bye, Gintoki!”

The two girls took off down the aisle with their cart. Gintoki stood there and watched them go.

This rumor was starting to get out of control. And if his time spent around Katsura and Sakamoto had taught him anything, it was that the only thing that would get rid of it was time.

He couldn’t _wait_ to tell Hijikata about this.

As the sun began to set in the cloudless sky overhead, the Edo streets were bathed in soft orange light. The lights inside the businesses slowly winked out, one by one, while the lights inside people’s homes started flickering to life. It truly was a beautiful evening, the kind that really only comes around a few times in a season.

All of that was pretty much lost on Hijikata, though, as he made his way towards the Yorozuya apartment. It seemed like the closer he got, the more anxious he felt. But he had to go, and putting it off wasn’t going to do anyone any good, so he was going.

And afterwards, he was going to fall into bed and sleep for a week. Maybe, just maybe, when he woke up, there’d be nothing to be anxious about anymore.

Outside the building, Tama was sweeping up for the night, gently and patiently brushing away the day’s dust.

“‘Evening,” Hijikata said to her, a little bit awkwardly, raising a hand in greeting.

“Good evening, Hijikata-san.”

“Are they home, up there?”

“Yes, they are. Please, feel free to go on up.”

“Oh, ok. Thank you.”

“Otose-san was talking about you earlier,” she informed him. “She said that, should you require a spare key to the apartment, one could be made for you. Should I tell her that you desire one?”

“Wh...huh? No, no...I, uh, I really don’t think that’ll be necessary. Really. Thanks, but no.”

“Very well, I will tell her. Good evening to you, Hijikata-san.”

“Um, yeah. Good evening.”

Hijikata shook his head slightly, leaving Tama behind and heading for the stairs. Every footfall on the hollow metal stairs rang out with a dull _clang_, like the somber tolling of a bell heard from far away.

He knocked on the door.

“Coming, coming,” Gintoki’s voice called out over the sound of the Yorozuya’s enormous dog barking. A moment later the door opened, and there he was.

“Uh,” said Hijikata, his treacherous brain suddenly completely and utterly blank, “hi.”

“O-oh, Hijikata...hi.”

“Can we, uh, talk? For a bit?”

“Yeah, sure, of course. Come in.”

“Ok.”

Hijikata followed Gintoki down the hall, into the apartment proper. Kagura was there in the living room, one hand on the dog’s collar to keep him from running up to pounce on the visitor.

“Hey there, Toshi.”

“Hello, Kagura. I’m sorry if I startled you this morning.”

“It’s ok. Were you very late to work?”

“A bit, yeah. But, I would’ve been later if you hadn’t woken me up, so...thanks, I guess.”

“You’re welcome. Come here and let Sadaharu sniff you, so he’ll stop whining.”

“O-oh, alright...hey there, Sadaharu. Good boy.”

“Kagura,” Gintoki said, “do me a favor and go keep an eye on the stove, will you?”

“Alright, alright.”

Kagura stood up and headed towards the kitchen, leaving Gintoki and Hijikata alone in the room together.

“Hey, uh...thank you for letting me stay here last night,” Hijikata said. “I appreciate, it, really.”

“Don’t mention it. Treat others the way you want to be treated, yeah? Sorry you ended up being late, though.”

“It’s fine, you don’t need to apologize. I hope I didn’t end up causing you any inconvenience.”

“Yeah, uh, about that…” Gintoki grimaced. “You should probably know that...well, somehow word got out that you were here last night, and, uhhhh...well, some people seem to have taken it the wrong way…”

“The wrong way?”

“Yeah. Listen, man, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just gonna say it: they think we’re together. Like, _together._ together.”

“Ah. You too, huh?”

“What?”

“Same damn rumor’s flying around the Shinsengumi headquarters.”

“Oh, shit, really?”

“Yup.”

Gintoki groaned. “Dude, I am so, so sorry. This is embarrassing…”

“I think there’s blame to go around, really. We’re in this mess together.”

“‘Mess’ is right. No one would listen to a word I said. Not even Kyuubei! I thought for sure I’d be able to talk some sense into her, but when she’s with Otae? Forget it, it’s like arguing with a brick wall.”

“I think Sougo’s spreading it around on purpose. It seems like the kind of stupid antagonistic thing he’d do.”

“Yeah, it does.” Gintoki sighed. “Well, it can’t last forever. We’ll just have to tough it out.”

“I think we can do that.”

“Here’s hoping.”

“Dinner’s done,” Kagura yelled from the kitchen.

“Thanks, Kagura.”

“Toshi, stay and eat with us!”

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to impose. Again. Besides, I should really be getting home.”

“Come by some other time, then,” Kagura said, leaning around the kitchen wall so they could see her from the living room. “The more the merrier. And if you and Shinpachi were both here, we’d have four people, and we could play Monopoly!”

“Monopoly?”

“You know, the board game. It just kind of sits unused in the closet, ‘cause it’s not really much fun playing with just two or three people. You should play with us!”

“Maybe. Some other time.”

“I’ll hold you to that, you know.”

“Kagura, enough. Go get a plate before the food gets cold.”

“Fine. Bye, Toshi!”

“Bye, Kagura.”

“Hey,” Gintoki said, once Kagura had disappeared back out of sight again, “just so you know, I had a good time last night. It was a nice change, having someone to drink with again.”

“Really? I thought it was nice, too. Well, for a while. We went a little overboard.”

“Yes, we did. I think we’ve learned our lesson on that score.” Gintoki hesitated for a second. “Maybe...maybe we could get another drink sometime?”

“Oh. Uh. Yeah, that sounds...nice. I think I’d like that.”

“Alright. Ok. Good.”

The two of them exchanged tentative smiles. Probably the first time Hijikata had smiled all day.

Maybe something good had come out of their wild, spontaneous night out, after all.

“I should really get going. Bye, Yorozuya.”

“Bye, Hijikata. I’ll see you around.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
